"We're moving away from the concrete," Jackson told more than 200
residents and government officials on the banks of one of the river's
heavily polluted tributaries, Compton Creek.

"This is a watershed as important as any other," she said. "So we are
going to build a federal partnership to empower communities like yours
.... We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the
country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods,
attracting new businesses and creating new jobs."